Vicenza has put itself forward as a candidate to become 2012’s “world capital” of the Bible and everything that revolves around the Sacred Text – from archaeology to studies on its interpretation, from historiographical research to religious tourism.
This initiative should act as no surprise: the Venetian city has been hosting the Bible Festival, an event promoted by the Diocese of Vicenza and the Society of Saint Paul, for almost ten years.
But this year, the festival, which is scheduled to take place between 18 and 27 May 2012 and entitled "Perché avete paura?" (Mc 4,40) – La speranza dalle Scritture (“Why do you fear?” (Mc 4,40) - Hope from the Scriptures), will be accompanied by an international Symposium, in which the Bible – and the various locations mentioned within it – will be discussed from all angles.
The Symposium will be called “La linfa dell’ulivo. Aggiornamenti e dibattiti sul mondo della Bibbia” (The sap of the olive tree. Updates and arguments surrounding the world of the Bible).
The title is inspired by an expression used by Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans, and the event is sponsored by the foremost Catholic cultural authorities in the field of Sacred Scripture research.
These authorities include institutions such as: the Studium Biblicum Francescanum, the Franciscan Custodian of the Holy Land’s academic research centre and Jerusalem’s École biblique et archéologique française, the institution of Dominican Fathers which published the “Bible of Jerusalem”.
The Symposium will be attended by the world’s greatest Biblicists and biblical archaeology experts and will be spread out over four sessions between 24 and 26 May.
The first part of the meeting, “Galleria di ritrovamenti e scoperte nelle terre bibliche” (Gallery of findings and discoveries in the biblical lands), will be an occasion to present this year’s most important archaeological findings from the entire Middle-Eastern region, in relation to the events within the Hebrew-Christian Scriptures.
Stefano De Luca of the Studium Biblicum Francescanum, in particular, will present the results of the recent excavations which took place in Magdala and Mount Nebo in Jordan, locations visited by Benedict XVI visited in 2009.
Meanwhile, Riccardo Lufrani of the École biblique will give an overview of the most recent work carried out on the Mount of Olives, near St. Helen’s and St. John’s Churches, close to the Holy Sepulchre.
In another session, the Symposium will also deal with the question of Jesus as a historical figure. In tune with the Festival’s theme, attention will especially be given to the problem of dating Jesus’ Last Supper – a theme which was also discussed by Benedict XVI, in the second part of his book on Jesus of Nazareth.
Speakers will include Romano Penna, who is one of the top experts on the writings of Saint Paul, a lecturer on the New Testament at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, and Silvio Barbaglia, who lectures on the Introduction to the Old and New Testament, at the theological collegiate of “Saint Gaudentius” in the Italian city of Novara.
Among the experts taking part in the Symposium, will be Dan Bahat, one of the world’s most celebrated archaeologists and Professor of the History of Jerusalem at Israel’s Bar-Ilan university, and Frédéric Manns, Professor of Judaism in the Faculty of Biblical Sciences and Archaeology of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum
“The idea of presenting the Bible using diverse forms of language,” Mgr. Beniamo Pizziol, Bishop of Vicenza observed, during the event at which he launched the Symposium. The prelate praised the mix of methods (conferences, shows, dance performances, children’s entertainment, debates and concerts) used to bring the Bible “into the squares, courtyards and down through streets of Vicenza,” – in the words of the Festival’s President, Mgr. Roberto Tommasi.
According to Mgr. Pizziol, “at a moment like this” the Festival “becomes an event of trust and hope during a period of crisis. There is unanimous consensus on this initiative.”
The Festival – and the Symposium that will accompany it – has been made possible, thanks to the collaboration and support of 140 local bodies, enterprises and associations.
Alberto Bauli, President of the Banca Popolare di Verona, one of the financial institutions that have been “close” to the Festival for a while now, praised “the commendable lightness” with which the Biblical Festival is able to bring the Scriptures closer to believers, non-believers and believers of other faiths, who are present in Verona.